American Dream

To the American natives
As participants in this live event we experience as life
We must earn a living by laboring six days per week
Therefore, Americans
Let us educate ourselves to be qualified for good jobs
Here in the freedom land of equal opportunity
For "We the People" by law have the right to special
Privileges and fair judgment as citizens to help us
Obtain this ambitious goal

Hear me
O wavers of the Old Glory
The Star-Spangled Banner
My friends
To be born in the USA is a great blessing to any
Individual so
Take advantage of it by achieving
Our ultimate goal the "American Dream"

PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK OF POETRY

Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”